commando

noun

com·​man·​do kə-ˈman-(ˌ)dō 

plural commandos or commandoes

1

South Africa

a

: a military unit or command of the Boers

b

: a raiding expedition

2

a

: a military unit trained and organized as shock troops especially for hit-and-run raids into enemy territory

b

: a member of such a unit

Phrases

go commando

slang : to wear no underwear

Examples of commando in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

In the film, Reno plays a former WWI commando turned domestic servant whose peaceful life is upended by mobsters collecting an old debt. —Leo Barraclough, Variety, 16 May 2025

Watch out for Scorch and other commandos' many appearances as the show advances, too. —Fran Ruiz, Space.com, 27 Apr. 2025

Their weirdly cozy 750-square-foot studio layout, a tiny dot in a 3.5 million-square-foot hunk of capitalism, was to these bohemian commandos a rebuke to the city’s destruction of their old neighborhood close to the mall. —Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune, 17 Apr. 2025

Israel-Turkey relations deteriorated in 2010 after Israeli naval commandos intercepted a humanitarian flotilla attempting to breach the blockade on the Gaza Strip. —Paul Iddon, Forbes.com, 14 Apr. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Afrikaans kommando, from Dutch commando command, from Spanish comando, from comandar to command, from Late Latin commandare

First Known Use

1839, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for commando

• afterglow
• akimbo
• albino
• aliquot
• allegro
• amigo
• apropos
• audio
• bungalow
• calico
• calypso
• cameo

Kids Definition

commando

noun

com·​man·​do kə-ˈman-dō 

plural commandos or commandoes

1

: a military unit trained and organized for surprise raids

2

: a member of a commando